On Saturday we joined North Devon Wildlife and Hunt Monitors to sab the Torrington Farmers Hunt as they basically re-ran a meet we sabbed only a few weeks ago. They seem determined to terrorise the wildlife around High Bickington.
The meet was at Bartridge and huntsman Steve Craddock immediately headed south through Knapp and Wixland. We were warned by monitors, who were in the area before we arrived, that a bunch of rowdy quad bike riders were giving them grief. Sabs intercepted and were met by 5 thugs on quad bikes skidding through the mud to do the usual song and dance about trespassing while driving at and into sabs. One particular brat, related to terrierman Andrew Braunton, tried to push one of our sabs off a steep bank.
After this, the hunt moved south past High Bickington and spent some time hunting the fields and valleys between Vauterhill and Dadlands. With hounds frequently in cry, sabs were able to intervene multiple times and turn them back towards huntsman. One of the landowners, who was on horseback, kept insisting they were trail-hunting until she was asked to point out where the trail layer was, to which she didn’t have a response. Eventually she said “well we haven’t found a fox”.
Some atrocious weather and sabs’ constant presence put an end to the hunt at about 2.30 with Craddock and a smattering of damp quad followers gathering behind a shed at Deptford Farm.
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